Diary - Day 3

Team SMARTies

Monday 27th August 2007

T's Diary...

When I woke up this morning the first thing I thought was I hope I can walk! Having been like this for a long time now I have got used to my body and know that rest, more often than not, helps to relieve some of the pain, swelling and discolouration. I was pleased when I stepped out of bed to find that it was a little easier to put my foot down today and the purple colouring had disappeared.

I hadn't been looking forward to having to tell Andrew I couldn't carry on so I knocked back a double dose of painkillers and hoped I'd be rid of most of the pain without totally knocking myself out! Thankfuly it did the trick and I had a brilliant day.

I was a bit anxious when we set off as I didn't want to miss any of the clues we needed but once I had the first few I felt a lot better. We drove through some beautiful little villages and down some great windy roads, I think Andrew was a little upset that he kept getting stuck behind such slow moving traffic but I didn't mind how fast we were going!

It didn't seem so warm today so we had the roof down for most of the drive and apart from the fumes when we were behind the vicars it was very pleasant :o) Judging by my rather red bits it was warmer than we thought and I should have been a little more careful with my application of suncream...something to remember for next time!

No sooner had we set off than we seemed to be heading back. It was great to get to spend a little time as a 'convoy' and Grez and Chris in the Mini were great entertainment via the walkie talkies! I don't think I was the only one who was a little sad to see us drive straight past the Aston Martin plant ! But we were headed for bigger and better things, the finish line!

I couldn't believe that the event we had been waiting all year for was almost at an end!

A little moment of reflection...

When Andrew asked me if I wanted to take part in the BritBallRun with him I don't really think I knew what I'd be letting myself in for! I've been able to travel to places I have never been before, meet some fantastic people, see some lovely cars, do things I wouldn't normally dream of doing, experience many different emotions and all of these things have been done alongside my best friend.

Just over 2 years ago life was very different for me but when things suddenly changed I was lucky enough to have someone step up and lend an ear when I needed one most. We've been through a lot the pair of us and I am so pleased that we were able to take part in this event together.

Here's to best friends and next years BritBallRun!

Andrew's Diary...

Monday came only too soon and after breakfast and a quick bit of revision it was off to the classroom to see the current positions and take our test. As we thought, we were still in 5th place and baring a disaster from either us or the 4th place car thats were we would finish. 11 out of 15 for the quiz was not a bad score (thanks Talj)

I'd parked the BRCx away from the rest of the BBR'ers cars on Sunday (right outside the Hotel) and after packing for the final time we set off to the car park to meet the others and prepare for the final (short) trip. This was about 70 miles and strictly following directions on 3 pages of A4 (with 10 observations to make).

We were travelling around the Cotswolds and scenery much like on Saturday (read stunning). After 30 minutes or so we caught up with Grez and Chris and their mini. As we drove through Broadway admiring the wonderful village and counting flagpoles Talj forgot about directions so had to retrace out steps. As I did a 3 point turn in the centre of Broadway the unholy Vicars arrived in their Lotus and as we pulled up behind them Grez and Chris arrived back in the village (they had obviously got lost as well). The 3 BBR'ers continued to collect the last few clues and had a little fun indicating right when we should have been going left. Most of the journey was behind caravans horses and the general public but we did have a couple of blasts up to almost 70mph (I think that secretly the vicars were impressed with how my 698cc 3 cylinder motor kept up) mind you, never follow a lotus with the roof down as both Talj and I seemed to be suffering from the fumes. We were all having so much fun Talj had stopped following directions and sadly the vicars path was not as straight as we thought and all 3 of us ended up in a car park trying to work out where we had gone wrong. Methinks the Vicars called their boss and they were soon off again whilst I got directions from some amused passers by.

Much of the past hour Talj was chatting away to Grez and Chris and their chirpy banter carried on (a very dry humoured pair). It would seem that Batman wasn't too honest with the directions as 'bear right' actually meant take the second exit on the roundabout and, as most people got 'lost' at the same junction as we did we are blaming it on Andy :)

I was both happy and sad when I saw the signpost to the Heritage Museum as it meant we would be finishing where we started on Saturday morning and all too soon we arrived back at the Museum and were greeted by Batman and an assortment of soft drinks.

We had an hour before lunch and the prizegiving and Talj was found a chair to sit in (as if 3 days sitting in a car wasn't enough lol). We were all waiting for the RAF guys to arrive wondering if the smoke would be on as it was on Saturday and sure enough it was but sadly Talj and I missed it as Talj needed to be 'somewhere else'.

We set off a few minutes before the rest so had a free run on the buffet, we had to beat RAF Jim because he is always hungry! The final scores were announced and yes, you guessed right - we were fifth. A big congratulations to all that took part and most especially to our ever smilling organisers - you made the event what it was!

I'd clocked up about 1,100 miles since Thursday and with just over 400 miles left to drive today Talj and I said our farewells to all except Chris and Paul - fantastic news their Bluewave Roadster was triumphant and they were busy being interviewed as the newly crowned BBR2007 champions (more about them in another thread).

After a quick dash up to Leeds to drop Talj off with relatives I headed back down to Norfolk and the bed that I was now longing for.